Last Night on Earth Hero Ranking

One of the aspects of Last Night on Earth that I really enjoy is the large selection of characters to choose from, or have randomly chosen, depending on how you set the game up. There is a pretty big disparity between the best and worst of them, so I’ve decided to rank them all! One thing I will say is that strategy and cards are more important than the characters, it is certainly possible to do well with a bad bunch of heroes. It’s really all about weapons and planning.

1. Sheriff Anderson: Guns don’t kill zombies, Sheriff Anderson kills zombies. Actually guns do kill zombies, which is what makes Sheriff Anderson the best hero in the game. Not only does he come strapped with a revolver to start the game, but his Man of Action power assures that he will never be without one for long. Whenever the Sheriff searches he can choose to pick up a gun as long as there is one in the discard pile. Since he starts the game with a gun, if he does not have one then there is one in the discard pile. See how this works? The fact is that guns rule in LNOE and Sheriff Anderson is always packin'.

2. Rachelle: Rachelle would be the number one if I were ranking my favorite characters. A curious out of town police officer, Rachelle arrives on the scene looking for a fight. She starts the game with a revolver, flashlight, and an ability to ignore any wound she receives on a roll of six. That is quite a package. My only criticism of Rachelle is that the revolver and flashlight are both really awesome, but if she loses them she does not have a ton going on for her.



3. Jake: The shady Drifter Jake Cartwright has a knack for turning up useful items with his Resourceful ability. Anytime Jake searches he draws two cards, keeping one of them. In a scenario that requires certain items he may actually be the best character to have. And since he is drawing so many cards he is usually a pretty good fighter due to most likely having a competent weapon as the zombies come crashing down all around him. I also really like his picture a bunch and his miniature is top notch. It is also not a coincidence that the top three heroes all have abilities related to items.

4. Sally: Despite her diminutive stature the High School Sweetheart may actually be the best pure fighter in the game. Her Lucky ability allows her to force a zombie to reroll any or all of it’s fight dice once per battle. That’s really good, especially since zombies are usually not rolling a bunch of dice. The two health boxes make her vulnerable, but it seems that she does not lose fights all that often. Her only drawback is that the revolver is the only gun that she can use, which I think just means that she can’t use the pump shotgun.

5. Amanda: The charming Prom Queen is one of the better hero’s in the game, relying on her looks and small stature to survive the zombie onslaught. Whenever Amanda shares a space with a male character, so eager are they to please her, that she grants them an extra die in any fight. Sounds more like a cheerleader than a prom queen, but whatever. The ability is rather circumstantial but a nice boost when it happens. Her real strength is her hiding ability, which essentially makes her a traveling cornfield. Whenever she fights a zombie she can roll before the fight starts and cancel the fight on a roll of 4+. Sure, it doesn’t kill any zombies, but it makes her a huge nuisance to the undead.

6. Sam: Sam the Diner Cook, former military, is the toughest hero in the game. The only character with four health boxes, he’s the one that you want slugging it out with the zombies. Unfortunately zombie slugfests rarely work out for the hero, so even Sam should avoid them. His Brawling ability to potentially cancel a fight card played against him does make him a better fighter, though a weapon would be even better. He should have a meat cleaver or something. In many of the games that we’ve played Sam’s glaring weakness has been exposed on more than one occasion. The zombie player can infect him with any of those cards that turn the hero into a zombie when they take another wound, thus nullifying the large amount of health that Sam has. That sucks for any character, but it hits Sam the hardest. Still, he’s a solid character.

7. Johnny: The quote on Johnny’s card sums him up pretty well, “I ain’t goin’ out like a chump.” Too true. Johnny usually does wind up getting killed, but no one would ever confuse him with a chump. His ending is usually spectacular. His Blitz ability is one of the most interesting in the game. During his move phase he can run around the board and fight zombies, and continue to move. His potential for destruction is unmatched, with a decent weapon he can decimate the enemy ranks in a single turn. He also wins fights on ties, which is like giving him a +1 to each fight die. However with only two health boxes the zombies only need a couple of lucky shots to take him out. Johnny has the highest home run potential of anyone in the game. Maybe he should be ranked higher.

8. Father Joseph: I don’t know what to make of Father Joseph. For starters he has one of the biggest handicaps in the game; he is unable to use guns. I don’t know why this would be, I can’t imagine that the Bible says something about killing zombies. In order to just be average he is going to need a pretty good ability. His Strength of Spirit allows him to sacrifice a point of health in order to cancel a zombie card on a roll of 3+. Considering how devastating many zombie cards are this is pretty good. The problem is that this ability is fueled by his health, and since he can’t use guns it means that he is going to be mixing it up with the zombies and short on health anyway. He is also immune to Last Night on Earth cards, so pairing him with Becky makes a pretty good combo. As the only Holy hero he benefits the most from the Faith cards.




9. Kenny: An outcast teen working at the supermarket, Kenny is able to focus his anger and kill a zombie in a fight even if no doubles are rolled. In order to use this ability Kenny has to take a wound (not a great option considering that he has two health boxes) or discard an item that he has. This ability, the awesomely named Cleanup on Aisle Seven, can be useful because anytime that you can kill a zombie is a good thing. But the cost is steep. In a one on one spot he can safely sacrifice a health to do it, but if there are other zombies around then he is basically sending himself to the morgue. And the other option is not much better, there are just not that many items that are worth sacrificing for a single kill and have it be worth it. In some scenarios the lighter is a good option, and maybe something like the jumper cables. I sort of see why the other teens don’t like Kenny too much.

10. Becky: Becky seems like she should be real good. In a zombie invasion scenario, wouldn’t we all want a nurse around? Especially a cute one like Becky? Especially in game where health is at such a premium? The problem with Becky is that she can heal the other heroes, but she has to be in the same space as them. Generally heroes should avoid being in a space with one another because of the devastating cards that cause them to lose a turn, so she runs the risk of that every time she uses it. And that is her only power. I have seen Becky go through an entire game without using her ability once, actually I’ve seen that happen more than once. Sorry Becky.

11. Billy: Someone may want to run a paternity test on Billy since he bears little resemblance to his father Sheriff Anderson. A misunderstood teen, he would rather run from his problems than face them. This makes him slightly better at running, so he gets a +1 to his movement roll each turn. Clearly not a power player, but I will say two positive things about him. One, his power automatically works each turn so you will get a lot of use out of it. Two, I’ve seen many games of LNOE come down to the last turn and often success hinges on a couple of movement rolls at the end of the game. If you need someone to get the keys to the truck or sacrifice himself to destroy a spawning pit, Billy may be your man.

12. Jenny: Jenny the Farmer’s Daughter is a total bum, I don’t know what else to say about her. I suppose her ability to keep hand weapons from breaking has it’s uses, but she should really be avoiding close combat anyway. Like with all the teen characters she has two health boxes, making her very vulnerable. She gets a slight bump in the rankings if the barn or cornfield is in play (she gets a an extra fight die in either area), but to take advantage of this she just needs to hang out in the cornfield which isn’t really a good idea. Oh, I don’t want to forget that she also gets a bonus when she rides that horse card.

Hidden City Philadelphia card game

During the early part of the summer the Hidden City Philadelphia arts festival opened up and exposed unique locations in the city, filling them with art and performances and, in many instances, allowing visitors into spaces that are otherwise not accessible to the public. In conjunction with this project the Hidden City Philadelphia card game was produced. I was much more interested in this. The goal of the game is to build up actual Philadelphia neighborhoods to prosperity, the winner being the first player to complete a neighborhood with the required components. The festival focused on much of the Philadelphia that is off the beaten track, and while these elements are represented in the game the focus is more on the typical and the well known. I thought that was sort of weird.



Hidden City is for two to four players, but each player needs their own deck of cards to play the game. The cards themselves are totally lackluster for the most part. They are very simple and have no art on them at all, they are really just text. I guess the part that was most disappointing was that it seems like a great opportunity to include little facts about the places and people that are in the game, but it really does little of that. A good example of this are the neighborhood cards, it doesn’t even say where in the city the neighborhood is. Sure, I know where Logan Square is but I think it would greatly increase the appeal of the game (especially to out of towners) if some information about it was included, maybe a famous event that took place there or a bit of slang that the locals are known for. And I also feel compelled to acknowledge the total lack of South Philly in the game. Really, South Philly doesn’t get a neighborhood? Tacony is there. I see Fishtown. The best that South Philly gets is Two Street, thus totally ignoring the Italian Market, the Stadiums, and just about everything else. The cards are broken into several categories and they are easily identifiable by the different colored borders, which does help a lot.

Game play is very simple. Each player draws a hand of seven cards from their deck and then a single landmark card is placed in the center of the board. The game works on a resource and purchase system, essentially every card in play generates a set number of resources each turn, which are used to pay for additional cards. Cards are drawn each turn and many of the cards allows the player to draw extras. The landmark in play is shared by all players, allowing everyone to benefit from the resources that it produces. Example, William Penn’s Charter (4 resources) is in play as the landmark, and I also have Society Hill (4) and Mayor Michael Nutter (6) on my board. This gives me a total of 14 resources to spend on my turn to purchase new cards. With my resources I decide to purchase The Constitution for 12. I decide to not make any more purchases, thus my two remaining points are wasted for that turn. It is very easy, but also extremely cumbersome as the game goes on. By the last couple turns of the game Mike and I were both generating over 40 resources a turn, making it tough to keep track of them. The rules do suggest that a pen and paper may be helpful for his, which I agree with. However, I think it would have been better if the game came with counters or a less intensive system was developed.

The game is won when a player has a neighborhood in play and all of the components that it requires have been played on it. That neighborhood has now been fully developed and the player wins! Two Street requires that an Art, Education, Economy, and History card be played onto it. I also really do not like that the aspects of the neighborhoods are called components, it seems so robotic and cold. Actually, the whole game sort of feels that way. I suspect that the game design was purchased and then Philadelphia was just plugged into it, sort of like Mad Libs.

I really wanted to like this game a lot, but unfortunately it falls into the mediocre category. I suspect that I will certainly play it a couple more times, but I do not think that I will purchase a third or fourth deck and get some others involved. The main thing is that it loses steam as it goes along. In the first couple of turns each player has only a couple of cards in front of them, making it easy to keep track of things. But it quickly gets bogged down, collapsing under the weight of the awkward resource point system. More play testing would have benefited this game greatly.

One if by sea, two if by land, 120 if by air.

I am totally perplexed by the Legendary Tracker (Epic) feat found in the Complete Adventurer. Now, I really don’t ever play or DM in an epic level campaign so perhaps I am missing something here, but how is a character supposed to make a DC 120 check? I mean, that seems really absurd for even the most munchkinny of munchkin players.

The legendary tracker feat allows an extremely skilled woodsman to track prey across virtually any surface, including underwater and through the air. The DC for tracking an opponent through the air is 120! So how does one go about making that roll? I have no idea but I am willing to try and find out. First off, any character that qualifies for this feat is no joke. The requirements are Track, Wisdom 25, Knowledge (Nature) 30, and Survival 30. That is one serious ranger, but even then can he really track an opponent through the sky? Let’s be generous and say that our tracker in question is 40th level, and has 43 ranks in Survival (the skill that track is based on). Realistically I would think that anyone who is 40th level is probably friends with a wizard that has other ways of locating this person, but we’ll say that they are out of town. Our Tracker’s Wisdom is very high, somewhere around 30. That is another +10 as his ability modifier. He also has a Periapt of Wisdom +10, to give him another +5 to his Track check. Even though it is not entirely legit I would be more than happy to give him another +2 as a synergy bonus related to his Knowledge (Nature). 25 ranks of Knowledge should be enough to cover some atmospheric conditions that will help in this particular example. This man is also so serious about tracking that he has taken Skill Focus (Survival) for another +3 to his roll. I can’t think of an item that gives a bonus to tracking, but I’m sure it exists. And this guy has it. And it gives a +10 to his track. All together that puts his modifier at +73. We will assume that he rolls a 20 on his attempt for a grand total of 93. He is still 27 points short of tracking the elusive airborne creature. So how does he do it? Any ideas?

The Invisible Blade

When I first saw the Invisible Blade listed in Complete Warrior I assumed that it was some sort of assassin class focused on sneaking and using blades. Well, we know what happens when one assumes. What I instead found was a bizarre punching dagger wielding character who is supposed to be a gladiator, or at least the master of one on one combat. What I did not find was a character who can turn invisible. Or even turn his blade invisible. It’s really a misleading name.

Invisible Blades are drawn from the ranks of rogues or fighter/rogues, though I actually think that a ninja is the best fit for the class (and they can actually turn invisible!). The requirements are 8 ranks of Bluff, 6 ranks of Sense Motive, Far Shot, Point Blank Shot, and Weapon Focus with a dagger, kukri, or punching dagger. And they also have to defeat a worthy opponent in one on one combat using daggers, or the other weapon options. Aside from the Weapon Focus (Punching Dagger) the requirements are not awful, though Far Shot strikes me as an odd one for this character. Rogue 6 (or human Rogue 5) is probably the most common way to get into it.

The basics for the Invisible Blade are a somewhat subpar offering; d6 Hit Die, Full Base Attack, one good save (Reflex), and 4+ skill points a level. Compared to the fighter they have less HD and 2 more skill point. Compared to the rogue they have 4 less skill points and a better base attack. Honestly, that is one of the weaker arrangements in the game, so at least they must have excellent class abilities to make up for that array. Right? Not so much. At least not until the fifth level of this five level class.

At first level and every other after that the Invisible Blade progresses it’s sneak attack. More sneak attack is always a good thing, even if it is restricted to daggers, kukris, and punching daggers. I assume the character is pretty committed to that arsenal by this point so the restriction isn’t that much of a handicap. They also get one of the most useless abilities around; unfettered defense. At first it seems okay. Add your Int bonus to your AC (to a maximum of the Invisible Blade class level). However, it only works if the character is unarmored. Yeah, no armor at all. This is one of the reasons why I think a ninja is better suited to this class. The Blade was most likely a rogue before coming into the class so there is no reason why they would not be wearing at least leather armor. Let’s do the math and see what needs to happen for unfettered defense to be worth anything. Plain old leather armor has an AC bonus of +2, which means there is no reason to give it up unless something better comes along (especially since it has no armor check penalty). So this character would have to have an Intelligence of at least 16 and be third level as a Blade to take advantage of this. Doesn’t really seem worth it. Any sort of magical armor only makes it worse. I suppose that it would work with Bracers of AC so it at least has that going for it.

Bleeding wound is the focal point of the 2nd level Invisible Blade. By sacrificing 1d6 of sneak attack on a hit the Blade can use their blade to create a wound that bleeds, doing an additional 1 point each round until a heal check or a cure spell. It’s alright if you expect combat to go for a while, but otherwise the sneak attack may be the better option. Coupled with Far Shot and Point Blank it seems as if the Blade should really be used in close ranged combat. It could actually be effective throwing daggers, moving around, and letting the enemy bleed out. If combat goes ten rounds or more then this might be the class for you.

At third level they receive what is essentially Improved Feint, allowing them to feint as a move action rather than a standard. This is a good ability for this type of character, allowing them to sneak attack when not flanking. At least they feel a little bit like a one on one combatant with this one. I do not understand why they call this ability uncanny feint and not just give them the Improved Feint feat, but whatever. When fourth level is reached the Blade can now take ten on a feinting attempt. And at fifth level they finally get a really good class skill, the ability to feint as a free action. I’m not sure that it is worth taking five levels of a below average class to get to, but they can mess up some enemies with that. I also feel that two weapon fighting is probably something that this class should have, especially if they really want to take advantage of all that sneak attack dice.

In the end I think that the Invisible Blade falls pretty flat as a class. There is really nothing that this class can do that a fighter/rogue can’t do, it doesn’t need it’s own prestige class. And seriously, what is up with the name? There is nothing invisible about this joker. If you really wanted to make a build with it I could see some sort of rogue/invisible blade/assassin as a sneak attacking machine, but other than that what is the point of it.

Bohnanza, the Bean Farming Game

For many of us the exciting and glamorous world of bean farming is an unattainable dream. But now, thanks to the card game Bohnanza, we can all experience what it is like to grow, harvest, and sell crops of beans! Thrilling, I know. Despite the mundane and odd nature of the subject matter, Bohnanza is actually a very fun game. It¹s simple to learn, but like all good games has enough strategy to make it worth playing. It also works great with larger amounts of players. The game is for 2-7 players and should take about forty five minutes to an hour for a game. The goal is to be the wealthiest farmer at the end of the game.

The game could not have simpler components. It is just a deck of bean cards. That¹s it. The cards are a bit too slick and thin for my liking, which makes them sort of hard to shuffle. They have a tendency to slip out of one¹s hands when mixing them up. Not a huge problem. There are many varieties of beans available to the ambitious farmer; red, chili, coffee, wax, really just about any bean you could think of. The art has a lot of personality, but it¹s not all that great. The beans are all portrayed in this anthropomorphic way that shows them embodying the characteristics of the bean. The coffee bean is totally amped up and hyper, while the wax bean is slipping on a shiny floor. The green bean? He¹s on the verge of vomiting, grasping a lamp post for support with a flask at his feet. The beans are all worth different amounts based on their scarcity. For example the relatively common blue bean is worth two gold for a group of six. However, the elusive cocoa bean brings in the tidy sum of three gold for three beans. The value of the beans also scales upward as the size of the harvest increases, which is a good incentive to hang onto a bean field rather than sell them the first chance that you get.



Players are each dealt five bean cards to start the game. The remaining cards form the draw deck. The rules state that the oldest player is responsible for shuffling all the cards, which I think is pretty funny. Each turn consists of several very easy steps. The active player must plant the first card in their hand into a bean field by placing it face up on the table. At the start of the game a player has two bean fields available to them for planting (at any time a third bean field can be purchased for three gold). Additionally the player may plant the next card in their hand, but they do not have to. Beans can also be planted onto the field of a similar bean, creating stacks that are worth more money. This is not a new bean field. The next phase of the turn is essentially an auction. The player draws two cards from the draw deck and places them face up on the table. They may do whatever they like with these cards; keep them, trade them to the other players for other beans, or donate them to another player. Any cards received by any player in this phase do not go into the players hand, but rather are placed to the side and must be planted in the next phase of the turn. Therefore any cards obtained in this manner must go right into a bean field. It’s a great way to screw up someone’s field by donating a card to them that they must plant. In the final phase of the turn the player draws three more cards and places them at the back of their hand. Next player goes.

Beans can be harvested and sold at any time, though a single bean is never worth anything. Only groups of beans gets the player any gold. The back of all the bean cards has a gold symbol which counts as one gold piece, when a field is harvested the appropriate number of cards are flipped over and go into the players bank, the remainders are placed into the discard pile. When the draw pile is exhausted all cards in the discard are reshuffled (by the oldest player!) and the draw starts over. Each time the pile gets smaller due to cards in play and cards that are now being used as gold. This happens three times and then the game ends. The player with the most gold can then hold their head up high, assured with the knowledge that they are a champion bean farmer.

One of the unique aspects of Bohnanza and what gives it, in my opinion, an interesting mechanic is the way that a player must manage their hand in order to be successful. Players are restricted in that they can only play their cards in the order that they are in their hand. Cards can¹t be rearranged, when a card is drawn it goes to the back of the hand and all cards are played in sequence. What it does is force the player to find ways to get to the cards that they want, often at the expense of helping another player by giving them a bean that they need (in the auction phase) in order to move up a bean in your hand. Makes sense? You may already have a field of green beans in play, plus two more green beans in the middle of your hand. Unfortunately there are several cards between you and those precious green beans. During the auction phase you may offer the cards that are next in the sequence to another player in order to bump up the green beans in your hand to the front of the line. Plant them and, if you like, sell them at the next opportunity.

Bohnanza is not a super intense strategy game that takes numerous plays to really grasp the concept and tactics. But rather it is a light hearted, fast and enjoyable game appropriate for any group. The bottom line is that it is a lot of fun, more so that a lot of other games that try much harder.

The Dragon Shaman

The Dragon is the most iconic figure in the pantheon of D&D lore, so it makes sense that there are numerous classes, prestige classes, items, spells, etc… that all incorporate this mightiest of creatures into their flavor. From the Players Handbook II comes the somewhat bizarre, but sort of cool Dragon Shaman. At this point I would love to be able to sum it up in a sentence and say what it does, but really this class is all over the place. It has such a varied skill set that I hesitate to classify it as anything other than a non caster, since it has no spells I can safely say it does not fill that role. But what does it do? Well, it sort of fights, has some healing ability, can buff the party, and some other strange little tricks. And a breath weapon. And can fly (granted, at 19th level).

I guess the best place to start are with the vitals of the class. Base Attack as a rogue, two good saves (Fort and Will), and d10 Hit Die. I am pretty sure that it is the only class in the game with a d10 that does not have full Base Attack, and that sort of sends mixed signals. However, it also means that they can survive on the front lines, they just don’t necessarily have to be fighting things. The Shaman can wear up to medium armor and shields, which only adds to their survivability. Then again they are limited to simple weapons so they probably won’t be doing much damage. Honestly, I think it is sort of a interesting mixture of traits. The worst part, however, is the 2+ skill points. As a jack of some trades they should really have some skill points to throw around. And they just don’t really have any. Their class skills are pretty weak, but they do get additional ones based on the color of their dragon totem (see below).

It is said that some classes, like monks and rangers, are MAD (multiple attribute dependent). Dragons Shamans might be the only class that is NAD (no attribute dependent). What does the highest roll go into? I have no idea. They get a breath weapon with a CON based save, and some CHA based healing. Other than that it is sort of up in the air. STR seems like a waste since they are going to be pretty limited in combat due to the BAB and weapon selection. I think I would go CON for the hit points, or maybe DEX for AC and Reflex. I could actually see any stat other than WIS. In a way it’s sort of cool that the attribute selection for the class is so wide open, it allows for a pretty large range of shamanic types, which I like.

The signature ability for the class is the Draconic Aura, which is essentially a field of energy in a 30’ radius around the shaman that affects them and all allies. Shamans know a bunch of these (by 9th level they have learned all 7 of the auras), they can only have one active at a time but switching to a new one is a swift action. I’m not sure what this has to do with dragons but some of them are pretty good. The bonus for the aura begins at +1 and increases by +1 at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th (when it becomes +5). Some of them give the appropriate bonus to damage, some DR or energy resistance, some social skills. I think that the best one might be Vigor, which provides fast healing but only affects characters at less than half their total. That is actually really useful for the post battle cleanup and lets the cleric save cures for an emergency. As long as you survive a battle you are going to wind up with half your HP. Not bad. And since the range of the aura is 30’ I see why it is important that they can hang with the meleers in the front, since they will benefit the most from most of the auras. Since it is dragon based it would be neat if there was a fear effect aura.

The other 1st level ability is the choosing of a totem dragon. The color dragon is chosen at this point and figures into some abilities later on, such as the type of breath weapon and some other stuff. They also get a couple of extra class skills, too bad they have virtually no points to spend on them. The skills are reflective of the nature of the dragon (i.e. red dragons gets appraise, bluff, and jump. Are red dragons known for jumping? I have no idea. I thought they flew). Later on the shaman is also given a skill focus in each of those skills (at 2nd, 8th, and 16th level). At third level they also get an ability based on their dragon color. Some are cool, like the bronze dragon’s water breathing at will. Some are not, such as the white dragons ability to walk across icy surfaces without making a balance check.

At 4th level comes the breath weapon, which is the most draconic thing that happens to this class. Unfortunately it is just not very good. 2d6 damage, plus 1d6 every two level. Con based Reflex save for half, usable once every 1d4 rounds. Cooler than it is effective. The idea of being able to spit acid at someone is pretty rad and is sort of a good way to start off a combat, especially when negotiations break down.

Touch of Vitality is the 6th level ability and will further endear the Shaman to his fellow party members, especially the ones frustrated with his lack of useful combat abilities. Each day they can heal twice their level x CHA bonus of hit points. 10th level shaman with a 14 Cha can heal 40 points a day. Once 11th level is reached they can also spend healing points to cure ability damage, negative levels, and other conditions. Combined with the Vigor aura this actually makes the Shaman a pretty good healer.

As they progress in levels they do not get many new abilities, mainly just a scaling up of the ones that they already possess. Some AC bonus, wings at 19th level, some energy resistance, and the ability to cast Commune once a week. Mediocre. I would like to see something at higher levels that allowed the Shaman to have more than one aura at any given time, that would make a huge difference at higher levels when the class seems to be pretty overshadowed by most others in terms of damage and overall usefulness.

All in all I don’t think the Dragon Shaman is horrible and there is certainly a place for them in a party, as a second fighter with some support abilities they should be okay. Give them Improved Trip and a reach weapon and stick them behind the fighter and they can make some contributions.

Murder at 40,000 Feet

Due to my lack of small games that travel well, the much maligned Murdero made the trek with me to Eastern Europe. I figured that it would work well on a plane since the cards you are laying down and the draw and discard piles should be able to easily fit on one of the awful flip down tables that they have on planes. I was correct on those accounts, it fit well. While flying over Rejkavik Jesse and I engaged in a game of this murder mystery rummy treat. On the bright side I was finally able to play it as a two player game, which I had not done though I sort of felt that it would be best between two players. It definitely does work better. It is easier to “solve a crime” and close out a set, but the major issues remain. The standout one being the games glaring lack of fun, regardless of the number of players. Really, the only reason that I brought it was because I did not have all that many options. Jesse had never played before but that did not stop him defeating me 128-56.

The best traveling game out there still seems to be a deck of cards. We had numerous good games of Rummy 500 in airports and on trains that made us quickly forget about Murdero.